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Well, I thought this had something specific to do with the trucking industry. I had just spent a ton of time preparing the next launch of dedicated servers that we were going to call "semi-dedicated servers" aimed at over the road drivers and to my disappointed I come to find out I have missed the target. Thanks to Liam I am back on track, but I would like to first see if I can relate this whole "semi" thing to something before I get too far....

Would facebook/myspace be consider "semi-shared hosting"?

Would webmail be considered "semi-pop3 email"?

Would riding a bus to work be considered "semi-car pooling"?

Would a double quarter pounder with cheese split between friends be considered a "semi-steak dinner"?

Am I getting close? Maybe a few more relational examples could help me nail this. Until then I have some flyers to get ready that we are distributing via truck stops, rest areas, and major highways advertising our Semi-Dedicated Server.

http://www.fastservers.net/ap/semi-dedicated-server.gif (am I off base here?)

I've always wondered exactly what semi-dedicated hosting was. It always just sounded like a larger reseller account to me, but without the control of a VPS.

Now I know and knowing is half the battle, or so they say ;)

To my knowledge semi-dedicated would be closer to cloud hosting, with separate instances of OS's, web servers and databases running on powerful server clusters and storage arrays. Ususally they run off a VM ware platform, and provide provide 'unilimited' on-demand resources such as CPU, Memory, storage and bandwith. In essence, this is a superiour model than dedicated because it utilizes formerly idl resources for those that require them on demand, eliminating the hassle of upgrading and adding servers when dealing with traffic spikes. This is defintely where the future of hosting is, but it will take some time for the market to understand the benefits of this new technology.

I think one of the things that's clear is that "semi-dedicated hosting," much like "cloud hosting," would be better served if everyone could agree on what it meant. Particularly so that a term that might have some use in describing something worth describing couldn't be co-opted by the more opportunistic and less principled folks and used in a way that dilutes the value of whatever was being distinguished in the first place.

Of course, in the case of semi-dedicated, there's the question of whether there's even something worth distinguishing there, or any consensus on what it might be. I might suggest that if there's something there that deserves its own name, then it probably deserves a better name than "semi-dedicated" hosting, which almost strikes me as confusing on purpose.

Aaron, how did you get the servers in the grill like that? Did you have to take out the engine, or does the truck still run? It seems like it would be perfect for pulling around one of those data centers built inside a shipping container.

I must thank you you for letting all of us aware about Semi dedicated hosting, your style of explaining it is exceptional, I loved it. Your efforts deserve great appreciation!

The engine is gone and I actually converted the semi into a solar powered rig. My thoughts are to have both a semi-dedicated server + be green at the same time. With both under my belt this will certainly be marketing power house that cannot be stopped.

No one will ever agree on what the term semi-dedicated servers are as they are not real. It's like calling a slice of pizza a semi-pizza or calling Liam Eagle a semi-fictional author :)